The Lord of the Donkey (a pre-Easter thought)

As Jesus neared Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he sent two disciples ahead to a small village along the route, telling them to retrieve a donkey and her previously unridden colt they would find there. Anticipating that the owners would have some questions about what the disciples were doing, he instructed them to say “The Lord needs them”.

At least, that’s how most English translations put it. But the literal Greek here is interesting. Literally, Jesus told them to say “The Lord of them has need.”

This is a remarkably bold assertion of Jesus’ authority as king. He’s not just saying “I need a donkey, may I borrow yours?” He’s saying, “I’m the king, which makes these my donkeys and I need them.”

And the “owners” handed them over.

None of the Gospels give us much in the way of details about how that exchange went. We’re just told that the “owners” of the donkey and her colt surrendered them to Jesus.

I wonder if I would have done the same?

I call Jesus my king, which means that I consider all “my” stuff his stuff. I’ve just been given a tenuous lease, subject to dissolution the moment he needs what has been loaned out to me.

At least in theory. But in practice, I wonder if I’m really ready and willing to surrender that stuff to him when he tells me he has a need?

My time? My finances? My house? My cars? My kids? My hopes?

The list goes on and on. So much stuff that I know in my head is his stuff, but that I tend to treat as though it’s my stuff.